PhosAgro to Build Food-Grade Phosphate Production at Volkhov Complex in Leningrad Region

PhosAgro is building a production line for potassium and sodium phosphates for the food industry at its Volkhov chemical complex in Russia's Leningrad Region. The project was disclosed at the international industrial exhibition Innoprom. India in New Delhi and reported by online47.ru on 10 September 2026.

The company describes the line as a new high-technology direction for the group, which until now has built its business at Volkhov around mineral fertilizers. Fertilizer output at the site continues, and the food-grade phosphate unit is under construction alongside it.

A market that imports four fifths of its supply

The Russian food phosphates market currently depends on imports for 80% of its volume, according to the expert cited by online47.ru. Domestic production would allow that import share to be replaced almost entirely, removing what the report calls a critical import dependency.

Potassium and sodium phosphates are functional additives rather than bulk commodities. They are used as ingredients in hundreds of Russian food products, including meat products, processed cheese, confectionery and soft drinks. In these applications the additives are bought on specification and under long-term contracts with certified suppliers, so an import share of 80% translates directly into exposure to foreign supply chains and to currency movements for Russian food processors.

The tonnages involved in food phosphates are small compared with mineral fertilizers, but the product sits further down the processing chain and carries tighter purity and certification requirements. For PhosAgro, the project extends phosphate chemistry already present at Volkhov into a segment aimed at domestic food manufacturers rather than at agriculture.

Fertilizer range shown in New Delhi

At the New Delhi exhibition PhosAgro presented 58 grades of high-efficiency mineral fertilizers, together with a new line of six grades of biologised NPK fertilizers, online47.ru reported. The company said the products are in demand both on the domestic market and in international supply.

The Volkhov site continues to produce high-efficiency mineral fertilizers. The announcement of the food phosphate project was made by a senior company executive at the exhibition; the report does not name the executive.

Training cluster tied to the site

An educational and industrial cluster will also be created in Volkhov under the federal project Professionalitet, according to online47.ru. The cluster links vocational training to the industrial site, an arrangement Russian industrial operators have used to secure technical staff for new production lines.

Figures still undisclosed

The report does not specify design capacity, investment, the construction timetable or a start-up date for the food phosphate line. It also gives no equipment suppliers, no offtake agreements and no indication of whether output will be directed solely at the Russian market or partly at export.

Those gaps matter for assessing the claim of near-complete import substitution. Without a published capacity figure, the extent to which domestic output can cover the 80% currently imported cannot be verified from the available material. The disclosure was made at a trade exhibition alongside the group's fertilizer range rather than as a standalone investment announcement, which is consistent with a project still at the construction stage.

• Location: Volkhov chemical complex, Leningrad Region, Russia
• Products: potassium and sodium phosphates for the food industry
• End uses cited: meat products, processed cheese, confectionery, soft drinks
• Import dependence of the Russian food phosphates market: 80%
• Fertilizer range presented at Innoprom. India: 58 grades, plus six grades of biologised NPK

For importers currently supplying Russian food manufacturers with phosphate additives, the project signals a future competitor with local logistics and ruble pricing. For Russian processors, it signals an alternative source, though on a timetable that has not yet been made public.